


Summer Time

by mangagal



Series: The Best Things Come in Threes [7]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Anal Sex, Anxiety, Bisexuality, F/M, First Time, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Self Confidence Issues, Sex, Summer Vacation, Swimming, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-22 16:50:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13768389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangagal/pseuds/mangagal
Summary: It's their last summer of complete freedom, Steve thinks they need to do something to commemorate it.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> There will be sex at some point but I will put it in the notes at the beginning of the chapter if you want to skip that. I'll be adding more tags as I go so keep an eye on that if that's important to you! It had 8 chapters so far but I'm not sure how long it will end up being. I'm on a write a new chapter publish an edited chapter so updates will be uncertain.  
> Thank you for reading!

            “School’s out for summer!” Steve sang showily as they left the school for the last time as juniors. “School’s out forever!” He slung an arm around Jonathan’s shoulder almost knocking him over with his exuberance.

            “Dude,” Jonathan would have been mad if it was anyone else on any other day but he couldn’t be mad about this, “calm down before you accidentally kill me.”

            “How can you two not be excited?” Steve asked exasperatedly, turning to look at Nancy who was following slightly behind, laden down with reference books, “It’s our last real summer break!”

            “I don’t see why it’s any different,” Jonathan shrugged, “we’ll have summer break next year too.” Steve let out a groan of frustration at their apparent inability to see things his way.

            “It is not going to be the same!” Steve continued excitedly, still walking backwards, “Next year we’re going to be adults. We’ll all either be going off to college or getting a real job. This is our last year we get to be free!”

            “Well we’re not going to be all that free this year.” Nancy grumbled, shifting the weight of her books from one arm to the other, “We need to start getting ready to apply for college, there are tests we need to study for and essays we need to start writing.”

            “Yeah,” Jonathan added in, “and I’m probably going to work all summer. I need to build up my savings if I want to be able to afford to go to college. Steve, you need to turn around before you trip and fall over something.”

            “You guys are no fun, quit being wet blankets!” Steve grumbled before tumbling backwards. He would have gone tumbling to the ground if Jonathan hadn’t caught him by the elbow.

            “Yeah, that's us.” Jonathan said rolling his eyes as he hauled Steve back onto his feet, “Doing boring things like walking forward and planning for our futures.”

            “That’s not what I mean. Now you’re just being dense on purpose!” Steve complained, “I’m not saying we shouldn’t do those things, I just think we need to go out with a bang!” He went back to almost skipping despite having only moments before almost fallen flat on his ass.

            “Well what were you thinking?” Nancy looked exhausted already. Steve was right; they did need something big for this summer.

            “Well…” Steve acted like he hadn’t already planed everything out to the last detail as he swept in and rescued Nancy from half of her textbooks, “we have a summer house out on a lake. Usually I throw a big party out there but that’s not going to happen this year.” Steve’s smile almost faltered but it was back bigger and brighter after a tick. Jonathan wondered if Steve actually missed the people he’d been _friends_ with. He couldn’t imagine it but then he’d never had any childhood friends or a clique or anything like that, he couldn’t imagine it.

            “But I was thinking,” Steve started back from where he’d left off, “was that we should go spend a week up there so the poor thing wouldn’t be empty all summer long.”

            “I don’t know Steve,” Nancy said hesitantly, “I know for a fact my mom is not going to let me do something like that.”

            “Do you not want to?” Steve asked, chewing at his lower lip, worried that he’d made the wrong call.

            “No, no! Of course I want to,” Nancy bumped him with her hip playfully, “you just know how my mom is. I don’t think that she would buy that the three of us were just hanging out for a week, she’d think that there were too many places for us to sneak away in a big empty house.”

            “Well I’m sure that we can think of something to convince her. You’re smart after all.” He grinned at her, exuberant mood back in place, “How about you?” Steve turned that blinding smile on him and for not the first time Jonathan swore he was staring into the fucking sun.

            “Well, I’ll still have to ask my mom.” Jonathan shifted, suddenly uncomfortable under his undivided attention. He felt like everyone could see, that they would notice, but the stream of high schoolers continued on their way, unaware and unconcerned with them. “There’s no reason she’d say no though.” He finished with a little shrug, he was fine, no one was looking at them. It was fine. Steve looked like he wanted to do something but instead he just ruffled Jonathan’s hair, weirdo.

            “Well the kids are having an end of school party or something at my house,” Nancy said as she dumped her books in Steve’s trunk, “why don’t you two come over and we’ll plan then? It will keep my parents suspicion lower if we don’t sneak off too much in the mean time.”

…

            Steve ended up not being able to come, said that his parents were having a dinner party and wanted to show off the whole family to business associates or something like that. It sounded like he might have to run interference between his mom and his dad’s secretary. There were times when Jonathan secretly envied Steve; this was not one of those times.

            The kids were in the basement, making entirely too much noise but who could really begrudge them that after the year they’d had. Nancy’s mom had poured herself a glass of wine and headed off to bed with a “help yourself to anything in the fridge!” thrown over her shoulder. Her dad was in his usual spot, asleep in front of the nightly news. They’d turned up the radio for good measure; no one was going to over hear their planning.

            Nancy had grabbed the big family colander out of the kitchen, she had a color-coded personal planer, and what might be a spreadsheet all spread out around her on the bed.

            “You know Nancy,” Jonathan flopped down on the bed, disrupting her careful stacks of dates, “I’m pretty sure he’s doing this so you can have fun and not stress so much.”

            “Yeah, I know.” Nancy replied absentmindedly, reorganizing her notes.

            “Well this doesn’t look like either of those things.” He gestured to the papers, “You’re actually stressing me out with all of this.”

            “It will be fun!” Nancy said exasperated, “And we’ll have a lot less stress once this is all settled!”

            Nancy planed for every contingency, what story to feed her parents and at least three counterarguments for if they said no. She almost went as fat as to have them role-play it but Jonathan told her that she would be fine with out it and he really did not want to pretend to be her dad under any circumstance. They decided to plan it for the end of the month, it didn’t give her parents too much time to think about it but was enough time that they wouldn’t feel like it was sprung on them. It didn’t interfere with anyone’s birthday, Steve’s training camp for baseball, her family visiting their grandmother, or any major national holidays. The story was that a group of them were going camping with Steve’s older cousins.

            “Does Steve even have cousins?” Jonathan asked looking up from where he’d been filling his families dates into Nancy’s planner.

            “I don’t know,” she thought for a moment, “he doesn’t really talk about his family. But I don’t think my mom will go and check with his mom. Plus older cousins give the impression that there’s a responsible adult there and that nothing too crazy will happen.” Jonathan shrugged; it was as good a plan as any. He was glad he didn’t have to do anything this elaborate with his mom; he didn’t think he’d be able to keep it all straight. She would probably say yes, she usually did. Maybe if he was always trying to pull something she would have to put her foot down but he never got into too much trouble. He was jerked out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

            “Mike,” Nancy sounded irritated at first but her voice changed when she saw the expression on her little brother’s face, “what’s wrong? Is somebody hurt?”

            “No, it’s nothing really,” Mike shifted back and forth, “uh, I think Will wants to go home.” Jonathan was up and heading for the door as soon as mike mentioned Will.

            “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Jonathan asked worriedly as they headed downstairs.

            “No, uh, I think he’s just tired?” Mike seemed unsure, but not overly worried so everything was fine. Probably. When he peered down into the basement Will was just sitting there on the couch, staring at nothing, almost in a trance. It was weird.

            “Hey buddy,” Will’s head whipped up at his voice, “mom wants us to head home.” Will seemed almost relieved at that and quickly gathered up his stuff and said goodbye to the others. Nancy promised to call after talking with her parents and conscious of the eyes of the boys on them they parted with just a wave goodbye.

            “You feeling sick?” Jonathan asked, glancing over at Will’s pale face as they drove away from the Wheeler’s house.

            “No,” Will said quietly, staring out the window, “I’m just tired, that’s all. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

            “Nightmares?” Jonathan’s hands tensed on the wheel, trying not to let Will see. His little brother just shrugged and continued staring out into the night.

 

 


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's hard to ask for the things you want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are 220 pages of this fic in the word document I'm working in, I never thought that this little story would grow so much! Thank you for reading!

            “They said yes!” He could hear the excitement in her voice over the line, “They gave in way easier than I thought they would!”

            “Really?” Jonathan asked, leaning against the wall next to the phone, “What’d they say?”

            “Well my mom wanted to say no,” he could practically hear her roll her eyes, “she didn’t want a group of kids in the woods after everything that happened. Like there are going to be Russians hiding in the Indiana woods.” The two of them couldn’t help but find the official story her parents had been fed ridiculous. “It was actually my dad that convinced her.”

            “Really?” Jonathan couldn’t help his disbelief; he’d never heard Mr. Wheeler utter more than a couple words at a time, let alone argue for something.

            “Yeah,” he could picture her perfectly, laying on her bed twirling the cord around her finger, “he said that ‘the kids are starting to look like ghosts around here, they could use some sun’ and launched into stories about his camping trips when he was young. It was great, I don’t think my mom even knew that he use to camp. She was too shocked to say anything about it so it’s a yes for me! What did your mom say?”

            “I, uh, forgot to ask her.” He replied hesitantly.

            “Well then go ask her,” Nancy said impatiently, “I’ll stay on the line.”

            “No that’s okay Nancy, she might be busy right now. I’ll call you back after I talk to her so you don’t rack up the phone bill.”

            “Okay,” she sounded a little bit like the wind had been let out of her sails, “but don’t forget to call me back!”

            “I won’t.” He said with a little laugh, “I’ll talk to you later, okay? Love you.”

            “I love you too,” she was smiling, he could tell, “now go ask her before you forget again!”

            He hadn’t actually forgotten to ask his mom, she’d just been… busy when they’d gotten home. She and Bob had sprung apart when they’d opened the front door last night, like two teens getting walked in on. She’d of course sprung up to fuss over Will but he’d just waved her off, saying that he was just tired and headed off to bed. Jonathan had headed off to bed too; he hadn’t meant to interrupt his moms date night. He also didn’t want to ask his mom about going off with Nancy and Steve when Bob was there.

            Bob was fine, he was nice, Bob made his mom happy. His mom deserved to be happy, she deserved nice. But Bob was also completely ordinary Indiana and completely in the dark about everything and he was going to stay that way. So he hadn’t asked her last night and for some reason it seemed hard to ask her today even though he hadn’t talked to her yet. As if summoned by his thoughts, she shuffled out of her room wrapped in her old yellow bathrobe and headed straight to the coffee maker already bubbling away.

            “Hey mom,” Jonathan sidled up, accepting the sleepy hug she gave him, “you want breakfast?”

            “Sure honey.” She yawned again as she sat down at their little kitchen table, “Where’s Will?”

            “He’s in his room,” Jonathan replied, cracking eggs into the hot pan, “working on something for their new campaign I think.” She hummed noncommittally and fished a cigarette out of her pocket.

            “So, uh, at the end of the month we were thinking about going up to the lake.” Jonathan said, moving the eggs to a plate, feeling oddly evasive for something that wasn’t that big of a deal.

            “Us being you, Steve, and Nancy?” She asked moving papers out of the way so her plate could have somewhere to go.

            “Yeah, the three of us.” He sat down, awkwardly avoiding her eyes now that he didn’t have the eggs to focus on.

            “Well that sounds nice, what day are you going?” She asked absently, already going through her mind over who would watch Will.

            “Well,” he tapped his toe anxiously under the table, “we were going to go for a week.” Her fork stopped half way to her mouth, eyes bulging slightly.

            “A week?” She asked in disbelief.

            “Nancy’s parents already said it was okay.” He mumbled defensively.

            “Oh and if I call Karen she’s going to say that the three of you are spending a week alone on a secluded lake?” She asked pointedly.

            “No,” Jonathan slumped down a little in his chair, “she thinks were going camping with Steve’s cousins.” His mom couldn’t help but snort at that.

            “Do any of you even like camping?” She asked with a quirk of her mouth.  She didn’t seem as surprised anymore but she still hadn’t said yes.

            “Well, no.” Jonathan thought about it for a moment, “Steve might like it though. It seems like an all American family activity, he likes those kinds of things.” She snorted at that, taking another drag of her cigarette before letting out a sigh.

            “You know that I like them,” she started, Jonathan could feel the but coming, “but you’re all still kids.”

            “Not really,” he said, “we’re practically adults. Steve’s going to be 18 at the end of the summer.” She rolled her eyes at that.

            “You’re all still kids,” she continued on in spite of his protest, “and even if you weren’t you’d still be my kid so I’m going to worry about you. You’re all good kids but you’re still stupid teenagers and you’re going to do stupid things.” She stopped to take another drag. “I will let you go but I have a few conditions.” She held up a warning finger before he got too excited, “I have to have the real address of where you’re staying and if I show up you’d better be there. Two, you have to call me everyday. I don’t care if they don’t have a phone there, go into town and call from a pay phone if you have to. If I don’t hear from you I am going to show up and drag you home. Understand?” She waited for him to nod, it was reasonable. He knew that she was still anxious about what had happened to Will, it was asking a lot of her to be okay with this.

            “If there’s anything weird at all,” she warned, “I want you to come home right away. I don’t care if it’s just a branch tapping against the window or just a feeling that something’s not right, turn around and come back here. You can camp out in the back yard for the rest of the week if it comes to that.” Jonathan couldn’t help but snort at the image.

            “And I know there’s going to be drinking,” she held up her hand at his protest, “I too was once a dumb teen and I know what kind of things dumb teens do. So I’m not telling you not to drink but don’t do anything so stupid that it can’t be fixed, okay?”

            “Okay mom,” Jonathan couldn’t help but smile, “thanks.”

            “No problem kiddo.” She replied finally digging into her eggs, “I’m glad you finally have some normal teenage problems for me to deal with.” He was glad he did too.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Some of you left some really lovely comments on the first chapter that brought tears to my eyes because you are the best! <3  
> If you enjoy this story please leave kudos and/or comments, I hold each and every one of them in a special place in my heart!  
> Thank you for coming along on this journey with me and I hope you all have a week that is as lovely as you are! <3


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is ready to go and Jonathan is already over it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Shout out to napstabl00k for all the hilarious comments yesterday, they were just too good and made my pretty shitty day so much brighter so thank you for that!

            “Hey! Slowpoke! Come on!” He could hear Steve yelling outside their house followed by a couple blasts of the horn.

            “You better get out there,” Will said peeking through the curtains, “I don’t think he can wait much longer. He might just end up leaving without you if you take any longer.” Will said with a devilish smile, and people thought he was such a good kid. Jonathan looked through his bag one more time, making sure he had everything. Clothes, sunscreen, bathing suit, extra film, extra batteries, check, check, check, check, check. He couldn’t help but feel like he’d forgotten something though…

            “Shit!” Jonathan scrambled back to his room.

            “Language!” His mom called from the kitchen like she didn’t swear all the time. Jonathan couldn’t believe that he had almost forgotten his camera of all things. He was practically glued to the thing, how could he have almost forgotten it? Where was it even? He cursed a little as he shifted piles of clothes; his room looked like a tornado had swept through after packing. The doorbell rang.

            “Hi Joyce,” Steve had probably just let himself in like he lived there, he practically did, “you look radiant as usual.” He could hear his mom laughing; he searched under another stack of clothes.

            “Hey little Byers,” he could hear Will squeak, Steve had probably ruffled his hair, “is your brother even up yet? Did he forget we had this thing or what?” Jonathan burst out of his room, still no camera.

            “I didn’t forget you jerk,” Jonathan grumbled, as he started looking under couch cushions, anywhere his stupid camera could be, “I just can’t find my camera.”

            “Would you by chance be looking for this camera?” Steve asked, looking smug as he held Jonathan’s camera that had apparently been sitting, all ready to go, by the front door.

            “Yes it is you ass.” Jonathan cursed as Steve tried to hold it out of reach.

            “Jonathan!” His mom cried out in exasperation, “Language!”

            “Sorry mom.” Jonathan said after he finally managed to get the camera back and around his neck.

            “Sorry Joyce.” Steve said with a laugh, “It’s my fault.”

            “Everything is probably your fault.” His mom said with a laugh as she pulled the taller teen into a hug, “Did you still need to pick Nancy up?” She asked releasing him.

            “No, she’s in the car already.” Steve gestured out the door. His mom leaned out to wave to Nancy. “Is this all you’re taking?” Steve asked gesturing at his backpack.

            “Yeah.” Jonathan said a little tersely, so sue him, it was early and he was tired. “What else do I need? Formal wear?” He asked acidly.

            “No, just making sure.” Steve said with a shrug, trying to carry his backpack for him but Jonathan was too fast for him.

            “Now make sure to call,” his mom said, drawing them both back into a hug, “stay safe, and have fun, okay?” They both mumbled yes into her shoulder before she let them go and shooed them off to the car.

            “She doesn’t have to make such a big deal about it,” Jonathan grumbled as they walk to the car, his mom still waving from the door, “it’s not like we’re going away to war or something.”

            “Be nice to her man,” Steve says, slinging an arm around his shoulder, “you never go anywhere. This is special for her, baby Jonathan’s first big trip.” Jonathan shrugs his arm off while Steve continues to laugh at his expense.

            “Hey Nancy.” He can’t help but smile as she leans out of the car for a kiss, which he dutifully gives her.

            “Hey!” Steve complains, “How come she gets a kiss and I don’t?”

            “I’m not being a jerk.” Nancy explains smugly from the front seat. She looks so cute with her new haircut. She’d said it was too hot to have so much hair in the summer. Jonathan goes to stand by the trunk.

            “Come on man,” Jonathan said impatiently, “let me put my bag away so we can get going.”

            “Just put it in the backseat,” Steve says shiftily, “there’s no more room in the trunk.”

            “What do you even have in there?” Jonathan asks curiously, “It’s full of alcohol, isn’t it?”

            “No!” Steve sputters, “It has camping supplies and stuff…”

            “It’s full of booze!” Nancy supplies gleefully from the front seat.

            “Why so much?” Jonathan asks, settling into the backseat for the long ride. It wasn’t like he cared but it wasn’t like they could even drink that much.

            “Well my dad still thinks I’m having the big party,” Steve said with embarrassment as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, “so he packed the car with booze. I figured that it was easier to just accept it…” He trailed off for a moment. “Okay Nancy, you navigate.” He said with purpose, handing her a map with their route marked out.

            “I can navigate.” Jonathan says from the backseat.

            “Maybe later,” Steve says happily, “you need a nap first. You’re too grumpy.”

            “I am not grumpy!” Jonathan protests.

            “You are so grumpy!” Nancy counters, seeming truly free for the first time in ages. Like she shed the weight of the past with those extra inches of hair. “Take a nap grumpy boy.” She teased.

            “Fine.” He grumbled but tried to get himself comfortable. They sped past cornfields; the stalks still short and an endless green that spread on for miles in every direction. The radio crackled faintly until someone fixed it. The quiet laughter from the front seat blended with the sound of the tires on the road and the wind blowing through the windows, rustling his hair. The sun was warm. Maybe it was a good idea to take a nap.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you're enjoying it so far! If you are enjoying this story please leave kudos and/or comments, they make me so happy to know that people are actually enjoying this and it's not just me throwing words into the void!  
> Love each and everyone of you and don't let the world dim your sparkle! <3


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not everything is meant for everyone, at least as far as Steve is concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little angst in this one but it all builds to a total story so I hope you enjoy it anyway! (Nothing permanently bad is going to happen to anyone we love so don't worry)   
> Thanks for reading!

             The early morning sun shone almost butter yellow through the car, not a cloud in the sky, it seemed like a good omen to Steve. Jonathan’s head lay cushioned by his arm on the open window, the wind ruffling his bangs as he slept soundly. They didn’t have to leave this early but Steve couldn’t bear to wait any longer than absolutely necessary. He would have left at midnight if it wouldn’t have been impossible to find the turnoff in the dark. Also, he didn’t think Mrs. Wheeler would have been happy about him whisking her daughter away in the dead of night. So he’d had to settle for 7:30.

             Nancy hadn’t seemed to mind, sitting there already packed up and ready to go on her front porch when Steve had rolled up at 7:40. Mrs. Wheeler had waved sleepily from the door still in her bathrobe, cup of coffee in hand. Steve couldn’t help but think that Nancy was just as eager to leave as he was. To leave the pressures of home behind and pretend that it was just them, for a little while at least. He knew she was close to having a nervous break down with all of the stress from getting into her dream school next year and finally escaping the small Indiana town that held so many nightmares for her. She was bucking under all of the secrets she had to keep, from her parents, from Barb’s parents, from the world. If she didn’t let off some steam she was going to crack.

             Jonathan hadn’t seemed quite so eager about the early departure time. He’d had work the night before and he was not what Steve would call a morning person. It wasn’t that he liked to sleep especially late, he would always wake up ages before Steve and Nancy if there wasn’t an alarm set, he just needed a solid 7 and a half hours of sleep and a set morning routine. Steve had robbed him of both but it was fine, Jonathan could sleep in the car and could even take a nap later if he wanted to. It was worth it to reach their destination early rather than waste a whole day on traveling. At first he and Nancy had tried to be quite so they wouldn’t wake Jonathan but when they realized that he was sound asleep they’d given up on trying to keep their voices down and be heard over the wind.

             “How far is it even?” Nancy asked and she unfolded the next part of the map, holding tight so it wouldn’t be lost out the window.

             “Not too far,” Steve said, glancing at the empty road that stretched ahead of them, “a couple hours. We should get there around lunch time.” He shrugged; they’d get there when they got there. As long as they weren’t in Hawkins he didn’t care where they were.

             “Aren’t you tired of driving?” Nancy asked, stretching a little in her seat, “I can drive if you want.” She perked up like that would actually happen.

             “Did you somehow get your license when I wasn’t paying attention?” Steve asked mildly.

             “No.,” Nancy pouted, “ but it can’t be that hard.”

             “Yes it is,” Steve said, “way to hard for someone without a drivers license.”

             “Whatever,” Nancy relented, “I was just being considerate.”

             “We can wake up Jonathan if I get sick of driving.” Steve said, turning onto the next street, “Are you ever going to actually get your license? It’s not like I don’t love driving you everywhere but don’t you want the freedom to just get up and go wherever you want?”

             “Maybe?” She considered it, “It depends on where I end up going to school. If it’s in the middle of nowhere I don’t want to be stuck there, you know? But I’ve been looking at schools in New York since Jonathan wants to go there and he’s the only one who has a plan. If I end up in the city I can put off learning to drive for a couple more years.” She stretched out like a cat in the passenger seat giving him a look. “Where do you want to go?” She asked casually like the question didn’t make Steve break out in a nervous sweat.

             “I don’t know Nance,” he tapped nervously at the steering wheel, “I’m not smart like the two of you. I probably won’t be able to get in anywhere anyway. I’ll probably just end up working for my dad, no one else would hire me.” He finished with a little self-depreciating laugh.

             “Steve,” she sounded sad and he knew the exact expression she would have, so he kept his eyes on the road, “you’re not dumb.” He shrugged at that; they’d have to agree to disagree. “Don’t give me that!” She sounded exasperated, “Your grades aren’t that bad, they’re already better than they were last semester. If you work a little bit harder this year I bet you can get really good grades!”

             “Sure Nance.” He shrugged again noncommittal. It was sweet that she thought so much of him but it didn’t change the fact she was wrong. He just wanted her to drop it. She seemed to get it and they lapsed into silence for a few minutes until a song she liked came on the radio and she started to sing along off key. It brought him back into vacation mood. There was no reason to feel down, the sun was shining, they were hours away from Hawkins, and the people he loved were within arms reach, everything was good.

             They drove a while longer before Nancy started complaining about being hungry. Steve had to admit that they idea of lunch sounded good and they started looking for a place. They eventually happened upon a small town with one traffic light and a burger place. It was bustling with hardly anywhere to park; they hoped that meant it was good. Steve reached back and tried to shake Jonathan up.

             “Get off.” Jonathan slurred, slapping Steve’s hand away. “Five more minutes.” He mumbled, rolling away from their continued attempts to wake him up.

             “I guess we can just leave him in here.” Nancy said with a shrug.

             “Yeah we just need to leave the window open like for a dog.” Steve said locking up the car. Nancy hit him but he couldn’t help but laugh, looping an arm around her shoulders. It was just as packed inside as it was outside and it took them a while to get to the front of the line and even longer for their food to be ready to pick up. They left the restaurant weighted down with bags of food; Steve couldn’t stop laughing as Nancy tried to shove fries into his mouth without looking. The laughter dried up in his throat when they turned the corner and saw Jonathan standing by the car radiating anxiety with two police officers.

             “Shit.” Steve mumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this so far! Thank you so much for reading and if you enjoy it please leave kudos and/or comments, they really mean so much to me!
> 
> I hope you lovelies are having an amazing start to your week and if you're not I hope it only gets better from this point forward! <3


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all about how you're viewed.

            Jonathan had woken up from his nap to find that the car had stopped and he was all alone. He looked around in a daze before things clicked into place. They had tried to wake him up, they had stopped for food, they were probably inside. He could probably just wait for them here; they would probably pick something out for him. He knew they didn’t mind paying for him but he did mind so he had pushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes and gotten out of the car to join them. He got halfway to the door when he realized that he didn’t have his wallet. A quick pat down confirmed that it wasn’t just in an unusual pocket. He swore under his breath before turning on his heel and heading back to the car. There was his damn wallet, sitting in the middle of the backseat. He tried the door. Locked. Well shit.

            He tried to reach in through the cracked window to see if he could unlock the car from the outside. No luck. His hand was too big and the window opening was too small. He’d just have to wait for them to get back, they’d probably laugh at him. He crossed and uncrossed his arms over his chest; it felt like everyone was looking at him. Like they knew he was an idiot who locked his wallet in cars and were silently judging him. He rolled his shoulders in, tried to take up less space, tried to get them to stop looking at him. He was starting to think about just going into the restaurant to wait with Nancy and Steve when they had showed up.

            “We got reports of a suspicious boy trying to break into cars around here,” the officer drawled, obvious with what he was implying, “you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you _son_?”

            “No sir.” Jonathan replied shortly. He knew how he looked to them; bangs plastered to his forehead with sweat, thin undershirt and tattered jeans, a stranger in town loitering by a nice car. He knew he looked like a kid from the wrong side of the tracks; he was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks!

            “What are you doing here?” The other officer asked, leaning in, making sure that Jonathan knew he was shorter than them. His fist tightened minutely but he consciously relaxed it before he could get into more trouble.

            “I’m waiting for my friends.” He gritted out, anxiety making his voice tight and monotone.

            “Sure you are,” the cop said, expressionless from behind his shiny sunglasses, “mind telling us why you were trying to break into this car while ‘waiting for your friends’?”

            “I accidently locked my wallet in the car,” Jonathan stared at the ground feeling their eyes on him, making him wish he could just disappear, “I was trying to see if I could get it.”

            “Likely story kid.” The first officer said, not even bothering to see if he was telling the truth, “You got any ID on you kid?” Jonathan had to fight with himself to keep his frustration from showing.

            “It’s in my wallet.” Jonathan gritted out.

            “Well then get it out son.” The cop said like he was talking to someone slow. Jonathan wished that cops that weren’t such idiots had stopped him.

            “It’s locked in the car.” He gestured to where it was laying in plain sight in the backseat. They didn’t bother to look. He could tell they were starting to get mad. He didn’t want his mom to get called to a police station over him again, especially not one so far away, he wasn’t sure her car could even make the journey. If his mom got called though it would probably be much worse, they would probably contact Steve’s dad and that could turn ugly fast. He wondered if it would expose everything; ruin everything, just because he didn’t look good enough to be here like he already knew. He was starting to panic when a bag of hot food was shoved into his arms.

            “We didn’t know what you wanted so we got some of everything to share.” Steve said, looking completely relaxed and unconcerned with what was happening as he pushed a bag of food into Jonathan’s arms. He turned to the officers and continued cool as a cucumber, “Is there anything we can help you with officers?” The officers had already backed up instead of looming over Jonathan, they already seemed less aggressive than they had moments ago.

            “Is this your car?” The officer asked, giving them some space to breath.

            “Sure is,” Steve said with an easy grin, “it’s registered to my father but it’s as good as mine. Do you want to see the registration?” The officer nodded and affirmative and Steve unlocked the car to get the paperwork. They had dropped their suspicious act when Steve had produced the keys for the car but made a show of looking over the paperwork anyway.

            “Where are you kids heading?” The head officer asked, as he looked over the paperwork, unwilling to give up easily.

            “My family has a vacation house on Lake Pleasant,” Steve said casually, “we’re going to spend a few days up there.” The cops suddenly became a whole lot more good natured when Steve mentioned where they were going, figures it was a rich people lake.

            “Well everything seems to be in order here,” the cop said, suddenly friendly, “have a safe trip gentlemen.” And with that they were off like they hadn’t been intimidating Jonathan moments before.

            “What was that about?” Nancy asked, pushing her way through the crowd to the car.

            “I locked my wallet in the car,” Jonathan rubbed at his neck with embarrassment, “they thought I was trying to break into the car when I tried to get it.”

            “Oh man!” Steve said with a laugh, “That’s too much!” Jonathan was about to snap at him but Steve threw his arm around his shoulder and pulled him a little closer than he usually did in public. Clearly saying, “I’m glad you’re okay.” Jonathan shrugged off his arm, embarrassed.

            “Well it’s not like I didn’t know that I looked poor.” Jonathan said kicking some gravel.

            “What? No, it’s not that.” Steve started but Jonathan shot him a look, daring him to disagree with what was obviously the truth, “Well it’s not just that. It’s just that you look guilty.”

            “Guilty?” Jonathan asked, wondering if it would be justifiable to smack him.

            “Not like that, quit looking at me like that.” Steve said sighing, “It’s just the way you hold your body.” Steve gestured to all of him, it wasn’t helpful. “Look, you’ve got your shoulders like this,” Steve said, pulling his shoulders in and up until he looked like Jonathan, “you don’t want people to look at you but you’re just drawing more attention to yourself. It makes you look guilty, even when you’re just standing around. It looks like you’ve got something to hide.” Jonathan frowned, what did Steve know?

            “But if you stand like this,” Steve transformed, rolling his shoulders down and back, hands in pockets, tension gone immediately, looking like he owned the place like Steve always did, “then you look like you belong there.”

            “Well I’m not like you,” Jonathan grumbled, seeing that he was right, “you’re just like that!” Steve seemed shocked for a moment before he laughed.

            “Dude, it’s just an act,” Steve said shrugging again, “everyone does it.”

            “No way,” Jonathan could not believe it, “there is no way that you, and everyone else is putting on an act.” Steve just shrugged again.

            “Everyone has a person they want the world to see them as,” Steve said, picking a fry out of Jonathan’s bag, “no one behaves the same way all of the time.”

            “So you’re saying that this isn’t who you really are?” Jonathan asked with disbelief.

            “Who knows?” Steve wondered, “It’s the easiest way to go through life though.”

            “I’m not changing who I am.” Jonathan said defensively.

            “I’m not saying that you should,” Steve said with an exasperated sigh, pushing Jonathans shoulders into place. “I’m just saying that this is a useful skill if you want the right kind of attention. It’s good for all occasions,” Steve said with a little laugh, “parties, department stores, middle of nowhere parking lots. They’re going to look at you anyway.” Steve finished with a lecherous smirk.

            “Sure you wouldn’t get jealous of all the attention I’ll apparently be getting?” Jonathan asked mirroring back his smirk.

            “As cute as you two are,” Nancy broke in, “if you keep at it our milkshakes are going to melt.”

            “What flavors did you get?” Jonathan asked climbing into the car; you couldn’t let a perfectly good milkshake melt.

            “I got strawberry for me and chocolate for you,” Nancy said passing his over, “but we’re sharing.”

            “What flavor did you get?” Jonathan asked Steve as they pulled back onto the road, not seeing a third drink.

            “Nothing,” he said with a grin, “I’m going to steal some of yours.” Without taking his eyes off of the road he reached over and stole Nancy’s before she had time to resist. They continued down the road, laughing, swapping food back and forth as Nancy doled out fries, insisting on delivering them straight into their mouths. Whether her aim was good or not was a completely different topic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! If you did pleas leave kudos and/or comments, I love each and every one of them and they make this whole thing worthwhile!
> 
> I hope each and every one of you lovelies has a wonderful week! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you lovelies enjoyed it! If you like what you see and want to see more please leave kudos and/or comments, I treasure every single one I get (especially comments)!  
> Hope you're all having a week that's as lovely as you are! <3


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